Kathmandu, Mar. 17:Nepal Aots Alumini Society (naas) in cooperation with the embassy of japan organised an exhibition cum talk programme entitled “Semblance:Nepal and Japan” to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the visit of the famous Japanese monk Ekai Kawaguchi to Nepal.
The exhibition aims to highlight similarities and resemblance between Nepal and Japan to the general public and to enhance the existing friendly relations between the two countries.
Inaugurating the exhibition, Japanese ambassador Mitsuaki Kojima said Nepal and Japan resemble in many aspects including social cultural and human behaviour and that Japan has been providing cooperation in the economic development of Nepal.
Tribhuvan University Professor Abhi Subedi said though its been 40 years since the establishment of diplomatic relationship between Nepal and Japan the history of relations between the two countries has reach 100 years.
The exhibition comprises a comparative display of almost fifty semblance in the form of real items, artifacts, prototypes, photographs, paintings and sketches etc.
Kathmandu, Mar. 17:His Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev received the letters of credence from Ambassador Designate of the Republic of Bangladesh Cyril Sikder, Ambassador Designate of Mongolia Oidov Nyamdavaa and Ambassador Designate of the Holy See Lorenzo Baldisseri amidst separate special functions at the Narayanhity Royal Palace today.
Meanwhile, His Majesty the King has said that Nepal and Bangladesh have enjoyed understanding and goodwill ever since diplomatic ties were established in 1972.
His Majesty the King said this after receiving the letters of credence from Ambassador Designate of Bangladesh Cyril Sikder amid a special function at the Narayanhity Royal Palace today.
Noting that increased interaction and cooperation between the two countries over the years have opened up new prospects for further strengthening of their relations and promoting shared well-being and prosperity of their peoples, His Majesty expressed the hope that this spirit of cordiality and cooperation will be furthered in the future.
Stating that Nepal is committed to the charter and spirit of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and believes that the challenges facing the region can be effectively addressed through saarc, His Majesty expressed the hope that the member states of saarc will further enhance cooperation among themselves to tap the vast human and physical resources at their disposal to the benefit of all their peoples in the days ahead.
Meanwhile, His Majesty the King has said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Nepal and Mongolia, their relations have been friendly and cordial.
His Majesty the King said this after receiving the letters of credence from Ambassador Designate of Mongolia Oidov Nyamdavaa amidst a special function at the Narayanhity Royal Palace today.
The exchanges of visits at various levels have further nurtured their age-old friendship and cordial relations, His Majesty added.
Noting that Nepal and Mongolia, both land-locked developing countries, have similar views on many international and regional issues, His Majesty said both the countries are members of the United Nations, have abiding faith in the principles enshrined in the charter of the United Nations, follow the five principles of peaceful co-existence and greatly value Lord Buddha’s message of peace.
In Nepal, His Majesty’s Government has pursued a policy of economic liberalization to promote trade and investment which is necessary to improve the Nepalese people’s quality of life, His Majesty said.
Meanwhile, His Majesty the King has said that Nepal and the Holy See enjoy cordial relations since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1983.
His Majesty the King said this after receiving the letters of credence from Ambassador Designate of the Holy See Lorenzo Baldisseri amidst a special function at the Narayanhity Royal Palace today.
“I am happy to note that we hold a common desire to see peaceful and prosperous societies all over the world,” His Majesty said.
It is a fact that the world has made astounding material progress over the years, His Majesty said, adding the physical and scientific achievements have made the lives of the common people longer and comfortable. However, His Majesty said, compassion, accommodation and cooperative feelings have not been able to keep pace with the speed with which material advancement is taking place.
It is the absence of such a balance between materialism and spiritualism, and a growing number and ferocity of violence, discord and disorder around the world that the communities today are suffering from, His Majesty noted.
Stating that society derive its sustenance from and thrives on spiritual values and enlightened pronouncement, His Majesty said the transcendental messages of all religions have an important role to play in guiding societies with a wider vision of humanity and in nurturing sympathy, cooperation and brotherhood among the people and communities.
Nepal has always enjoyed religious harmony, tolerance and cultural diversity, His Majesty said, adding our religions and culture promote values such as universal brotherhood, tolerance, spirituality and selfless devotion.
As both Nepal and the Holy See have cultural and religious richness, we hope that our relations would further contribute to promoting peace, prosperity and harmony among the people around the world, His Majesty said.
Kathmandu, Mar. 17: The National Assembly today agreed to discuss the child labour (prohibition and regulation) Bill- 2056 bs. and the Land (Survey) act (Eighth Amendment) Bill-2056 bs. as proposed by Minister for Finance Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat.
At the National Assembly meeting which started an hour later than scheduled, Dev Raj Ghimire of cpn-uml spoke of the need for distributing land ownership certificates to the families residing in Arjundhara and Khuduna Bari vDcs since 2018 B.S.
He also stressed the need to see that the situation under which budgetary allocation might lapse occur as it would adversely affect the National Assembly.
Vice chairman of the Assembly Chiranjibi Prasad Rijal, from the chair, read out the Royal Palace Communications concerning the acceptance of resignation tendered by the Prime Minister.
The National Assembly will meet on March 20 at 2 pm.
Bhaktapur, Mar. 17: The National Tuberculosis Centre held here a 3-day seminar on “tuberculosis control and various aspects of dots (directly observed treatment short course) system” to work out future strategies on tuberculosis control.
The strategies are to be made on the basis of the progress in tuberculosis control in all the nineteen district of the central region where national tuberculosis control programme was introduced some time back.
At the seminar, tuberculosis assistants from all the districts of the region shed light on tuberculosis control and various implementation aspects of dots system.
According to training assistant of the centre Damodar Gautam, seventy-one dots centres are providing medical treatment to tuberculosis in the central development region and 17 more will be added in the fourth quarter of this fiscal year.
Kathmandu, Mar. 17: Nepali Congress central member and ex-minister Khum Bahadur Khadka says a general feeling in the country today is that Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala himself should now take the charge of the primeirship to control Maoist terrorism, maintain peace and security and law and order, ensure social justice and national development work in the country.
During a brief meeting with rss today, Mr Khadka said, “Mr Koirala alone can provide the kind of able, competent and dynamic leadership expected by the country.”
The sacrifice and dedication of Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and his ideals of liberalism would be necessary for the new generation of the Congress leadership, he observed.
Likewise, another central member of Nepali Congress and ex-minister Mahesh Acharya also expressed the view that the country expected Mr Girija Prasad Koirala’s leadership in order to create a society free from fear, establish good governance and pave the way for the development of the country as a whole.
As competition is the very ideal of multi-party system Mr Koirala has no reason to back off from parliamentary party leadership just because some one else stands for that leadership against Mr Koirala’ candidature, he argued.
Leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai’s sacrifice, liberalism and sense of dedication had inspired the new generation, he said, noting that the unity among the founder leaders who steadfastly spearheaded the long struggle for democracy brought jubilation among the party leaders and workers at all levels.
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Chitralekha Yadav said the new generation of Congress leaders should emulate the sacrifice, patience and liberalism of leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and help strengthen the party organisation, maintain law and order, good governance and ensure social justice and development work and create congenial atmosphere under which Girija Prasad Koirala could steer the nation.
The people’s despondence would turn into hope under the leadership of Girija Prasad Koirala and he would win the people’s confidence for the sake of democracy, the nation and national development, said Deputy Speaker Yadav.
MP Prakash Koirala of Nepali Congress stressed that Girija Prasad Koirala should provide leadership to the nation in steering the country towards progress, in raising the people’s living standard and in strengthening democracy.
Kathmandu, Mar. 17: Seventy-two types of apples can be successfully grown in Nepal. Mustang district which is famous for producing luscious apples produces forty types of apples and its annual yield comes to three thousand metric tonnes, according to manager of the Horticulture Centre, Mustang Chutaraj Gurung.
However, the situation is such that apples picked two three months ago have to be sold in Mustang.
The apples when transported to Pokhara cost Rs 20 per kg by plane and Rs 15 per kg when transported on mules. The chief woe of Mustang is its lack of access road that has resulted in the rotting of apples, apricot, walnut, plum, peach and vegetables produced here due to lack of market.
Most of the fruits produced here are used in the production of wine.
Apple orchards cover 176 hectares of land in Mustang. Mustang has a centre for making brandy, dried apples, jam and jelly and local beer cider in the apple farm run under the Ministry of Agriculture. Besides, there are private sector distilleries producing apple wine and cider.
Buddhi Ratna Sherchan and Pasang Khampache Sherpa have a remarkable contribution in commercialising apple farming in Mustang district which began here in commercial basis since the year 2033 B.S. through the Agriculture Centre.
Mustang, also known as the district beyond the himalayas, has a population of 15,000 and has 16 VDCs. The production of apples this year has been totally hampered by widespread frost in tukuche, kowang, kunjo and lete areas. Mustang district has 35 storehouses for storing apples.
A seminar on apple processing and marketing and its future plans and strategies has decided to form a Mustang Cooperatives Pvt. Ltd. with the involvement of apple farmers of Mustang.
Mustang DDC chairman Nirmal Gauchan says that the Agriculture Entrepreneurship Centre is to conduct a survey on fruit processing and market management specifically the transportation of apples. The DDC has a plan to establish a technology that is cheaper and can be handled by the local residents for the production of juice and wine as well as for other uses of apples.
Chairman Gauchan says-we have a consensus on formulating an integrated plan for fruit cultivation, tourism, soil conservation and the development of Muktinath. The DDC is also coordinating to formulate a future plan by common efforts of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (fncci), the usaid, the Export Promotion Committee of the Ministry of Commerce and the Fruits Development Division of the Ministry of Agriculture for fruit cultivation and market management in Mustang District.
Kathmandu, Mar. 17:The Election Commission has decided to remove Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Chand) from the list of political parties registered with the commission for election purposes as it found valid the demand of rpp (Chand) president Lokendra Bahadur Chand for invalidation of the registration of the party.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has also decided to remove the election symbol (man holding a plough) allotted to the party from the set of election symbols prepared by the commission.
On the one hand rpp (Chand) president Lokendra Bahadur Chand had filed an application at the commission stating that since rpp (Chand) merged into rpp there was no need to retain separate registration of the party, while on the other Jagat Bahadur Gurung, who was stated as assistant general secretary of the same party, had filed another application at the commission stating that the party’s central working committee elected Rajeshwor devkota president of the party, the commission said.
The commission found the applications quite contradictory and, therefore, carefully examined the meeting minutes and other documents received from both parties, the commission said, adding it took the decision to invalidate the registration of rpp (Chand) since the examination revealed that the meeting which was said to have elected Rajeshwor Devkota president of rpp (Chand) had not the quorum it should have in accordance with its own constitution.
Mathmandu, Mar. 17: A function was organised here today jointly by Nepal-Russia Friendship Association (NRFA) and Nepal-Russia Cultural Association (NRCA) in honour of the president of Moscow based Russia-Nepal Friendship Society (RNFC) Alexander Soloviev.
Speaking on the occasion, RNFC president Soloviev threw light on the role played by the friendship and cultural associations in strengthening the bilaterel Nepal-Russia ties.
NRFA president Krishna Prasad Bhandari, NRCA president Dr. Upendra Mahato, general secretary of Nepal-Russia Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ichha Raj Tamang, NRFA general secretary Bhagwan Ratna Tuladhar shed light on Nepal-Russia friendly ties.
Meanwhile, president of Russia-Nepal Freindship Society Soloviev inaugurated today the one-man art exihibition of artist Dr. Ram Kumar Bhaukajee at Russian Centre of Science and Culture.
Speaking on the occasion, noted historian Bhuwan Lal Pradhan expressed the view that Dr. Bhaukajee is not just an artist but an art expert too.
Nepal-Russia Cultural Association president Dr. Mahato said that artist Bhaukajee’s art exhibitions were earlier held in many CIS nations and a number of cities of European countries.
Kathmandu, Mar. 17:A unique Nepalese building in the form of 21-metre high stupa together with 11-metre high temple is being constructed in Germany by a team of 29 specialised Nepalese craftsmen and engineers.
The team has been erecting the structure as Nepal’s national pavillion at hannover in Germany for expo 2000 for last one month.
Nepal’s himalayan pavilion in the form of stupa and temple will stretch over 2500 sq. metres.
The construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of April, it is learnt from the experts group concerned.
The stupa temple building will be the only Nepalese architecture of this kind in the world.
Syangja, Mar. 17: CPN-UML Syangja district committee says it is going to wage a struggle against what it alleged the government’s reluctance to resolve the problems of price hike, corruption, serious law and order situation.
It has formed a 160-member action committee with cpn-uml district secretary Prem Narayan Poudel for the purpose.